Former Otb Manager Charged With Embezzlement

April 10, 2003|By RICK GREEN; Courant Staff Writer

A former general manager at the now-closed Hartford Off Track Betting facility has been charged with embezzling more than $300,000 in a case that turned up more than $1.2 million in missing cash from the gambling parlor.

It wouldn't have been too tough a caper to pull off.

According to documents filed in Superior Court, the Hartford OTB, owned by Richard Berenson of Miami Beach, Fla., didn't keep a general ledger tracking the betting facility's finances. The practice was evidently abandoned when a software program crashed in December 1999.

Starting in 2000, according to investigators from the state's Division of Special Revenue, Carolyn Derlaga was able to begin an 18-month binge of cashing $116,460 in fraudulent checks and ``embezzling for her personal use'' more than $300,000. An independent audit of the parlor's finances in December 2001 discovered cash shortages of more than $1.2 million.

In a court affidavit, Special Revenue Investigator Michael J. Gejda stated that much of the money apparently disappeared when it was removed from money bags prepared by Derlaga, the general manager.

Derlaga, 49, of East Hampton, is charged with first-degree larceny and conspiracy to commit larceny. The OTB facility closed during the summer of 2002. Derlaga, who turned herself in on March 10, is free on a promise to appear in court. Her next court date is April 23.

``It is our intent when we go to court to enter a plea of not guilty,'' said Richard Brown, Derlaga's lawyer. ``At this point, we are going to contest it and seek a jury trial. It's early on in the case.''

``We have tried to cooperate,'' Brown said. ``We have a different interpretation'' of the facts, he said.

John A. Cotter, chief of security for the state Division of Special Revenue, declined to comment about the case. Division spokesman Paul Bernstein also declined to comment. The division oversees the state's extensive array of state-sanctioned gambling, from the Indian casinos to OTB to the lottery. In 2002, the state received $5.7 million in revenue from OTB parlors.

The state began an investigation after receiving an anonymous tip in June 2001.

According to Division of Special Revenue investigators, the thefts began in April 2000 and continued through the summer of 2001. Most of the fraudulent checks were cashed by a friend of Derlaga's, Richard Semerjian, and another man, a former jai alai player, Paul Boornazian, court documents say.

``She conspired with Hartford OTB customer Richard Semerjian to appropriate the funds of her employer, Berensen Pari-Mutuel Inc., by cashing his checks in the amount of $116,460 ... and embezzling for her own personal use, in excess of $300,000 in additional funds belonging to her employer.''

``Frequent miscellaneous deposits have been made to [Derlaga's credit union] account,'' the division found in its own audit. ``These totaled $317,326.89.''

There was no record for Semerjian at Superior Court in Hartford Wednesday. Derlaga's affidavit stated that an arrest warrant for Semerjian, described as a co-conspirator, will be applied for soon.